Lower supply voltages in today's integrated circuits have increased the need to reduce unwanted voltage drops in a circuit. These voltage drops are caused by the non-negligible resistivity of circuit components like metal interconnect and Ohm's law, which dictates that the voltage drop across a component is equal to the current times the resistance (V=IR). Thus, it has become increasingly important to accurately and efficiently compute and model the voltage drops in a circuit, and to optimally place circuit components to reduce voltage drops.
Existing methods, however, have proven computationally inefficient. In particular, existing methods require circuit simulation at the layout level to estimate the voltages drops resulting from moving or inserting components in the circuit. Such simulations take time, and do not facilitate optimizing circuit component to minimize voltage drop. It would thus be desirable to provide a method for modeling voltage drops that is both accurate and easy to compute, and which automatically determines the optimal circuit component placement to reduce voltage drops.